We photographed this pharmacist in Long Beach, CA for QS/1, maker of a software that runs pharmacies across the nation. Created via CGI, this image will join the QS/1 ad campaign in trade magazines and direct mail.
Tank Top vs. Wife Beater
in Images
We worked with Beards BeCAUSE, a Charlotte anti-domestic violence group headed by our friend Jared Yerg, to bring attention to peoples' misperception as to who commits these terrible acts. Get it?
Food Babe
We don't often showcase our retouching, especially for a rather simple project such as this. But we really want to give a special shout out to our friend Vani Hari at Food Babe (foodbabe.com). She's doing amazing things with investigating what's going into our food supply and has a massive online following. Check out her great site and learn how we can all make the world (and especially our bodies) a better place.
FYC campaign spotted again
Charlotte Center City Partners has once again used the original Find Your Center imagery, which we created about 6 years ago or so. This time the art can be spotted in uptown Charlotte on EpiCentre's video boards at the corner of 4th/College. Looking good!
Huber "Long Lengths" Project
in CGI
Huber Engineered Woods hired us to make a beachy scene using a new product recently released - the Long Lengths version of their Zip System panel. It was decided that the CGI scene should look very similar a real house being built using the product, so this image was provided as a reference:
So Peter blocked in the basic shapes of the house for feedback from the client on layout and composition of the scene, and tried out some cloud effects and vegetation:
Then the house construction was completed, including a structural change recommended by their engineers:
We provided this to the client, which includes more background (but the old cinder block base):
Finally, after some changes to the sky, vegetation additions and blur effects we finished the project with this image:
Can CGI Look Better than Real Life?
This is how we created the latest visual for Huber Engineered Woods' "Zip It Up" advertising campaign. Back in December 2012 Sean went to Washington, DC to shoot a major project being built using Huber's Zip products. A Walmart Supercenter was being built 7 blocks from the Capitol Building, which, of course, created a huge outcry. To appease the neighborhood/city, Walmart had to disguise the shopping center in an urban development with certain architectural features that included a parking deck and condominiums atop. After we photographed the project for various marketing needs, Huber decided they also wanted the Sean Busher Imagery team to use the project for their Zip It Up ad campaign.
Here is one of the original photos Sean took of the site under construction:
Here is the comp that was provided to us at the beginning of this project:
Peter Godshall, our team's Digital Imager (CGI Artist and retoucher), started blocking in the basic shapes and then adding layer upon layer of detail.
Here are two views from within Peter's Cinema 4D software:
Once we added the CGI cars, better texturing in the cement and other materials, stormier clouds, changes to the window installations, plus other bits of detail we provided this to the client for review:
But the client decided they wanted to see the scene go dark and stormy to further accent the all-weather capabilities of the product. So we added the clouds, changed the lighting and added the streetlights to help with the foggy atmosphere:
Most of the atmospheric effects were created via the 3D software, including the volumetric lights for the fog and the air particulates. However, the rain, water drops, extra reflections, and global toning were all done in Photoshop. Here is the base render and the same image after the toning, rain and water drops were added:
Here is the final image:
Here is the final print advertisement:
seanbusher.com v4.0
We have launched a new website with a much better user experience. Now the galleries can be viewed as thumbnails or large images, and all the information needed to get to know our team is in one easy to navigate section. We've been in business for almost 12 years and this is already our 4th website - it's amazing how fast our expectations of a quality user experience change. Please visit www.seanbusher.com and let us know how you like the new site. Enjoy!
2013 City Block Project - recap
Thanks to all the Charlotte photographers that participated in the 2013 City Block Project featuring Plaza Midwood. As usual, the artwork was fabulous and the winning entries were deserving. For those that don't know, the City Block Project is a 24-hour photo contest where photographers rub elbows with each other to capture the best image. As long as the image shows something within the block (it changes each year) then it can be submitted, and any retouching or special effects are allowed. For each entry submitted, a participant gets two votes towards the winner, and they can vote for anybody but themselves - truly a jury of your peers!
Here are the winning entries:
1st place - James Dancy
2nd place - David Huff
3rd Place - Tie - Steve Smith
3rd Place - Tie - Tim Henderson
5th Place - Tie - Joel Lassiter
5th Place - Tie - Nick Macek
A special thanks to Gallery Twenty-Two for hosting the Winner Reveal Party and for displaying the winners in the gallery for a couple weeks following the party.
The past locations for City Block Project were: 2010 - EpiCentre 2011 - NASCAR Hall of Fame 2012 - NC Music Factory 2013 - Plaza Midwood 2014 - Look for an announcement in Spring of next year. The project usually takes place in late April or May.
To learn more about the project visit http://www.cityblockproject.com. This project is hosted by Paparazzi, the affiliates group of The Light Factory and was created by Charlotte photographer Sean Busher. To learn more about becoming a part of other fun projects or educational and exhibit opportunities visit http://www.lightfactory.org.
CGI for Cassidian Communications
in CGI
We worked with St. Louis ad agency 2e Creative on a campaign for Cassidian Communications. Our team completed all the CGI and 3D animation work, and Ashley Gieseking, a photographer in St. Louis, shot the laptop, computer screen and central people (the background people are stock).
Charlotte Photographers: The City Block Project winner reveal is tonight!
Thanks to all the great Charlotte photographers that braved the rain and participated in the 2013 City Block Project featuring Plaza Midwood. As usual, The Light Factory Paparazzi team has been amazed at all the great imagery. For those that don't know, the project takes place over 24-hours at a designated block each year somewhere around Charlotte, NC. The participants are allowed to retouch and manipulate their images however they see fit, and the submit them to the contest for a low fee that acts as a fundraiser for The Light Factory. Best of all, the participants get to vote on the winners themselves. For each one entry made to the contest, you get two votes. Check out all the great work here: http://submissions.cityblockproject.com/Voting/2013/
Join us for the reveal tonight, here are the details:
Light Factory Paparazzi's 2013 City Block Project winner reveal:
Tonight! Thursday, May 9th
1500 Central Ave, Charlotte, NC 20205
7:00-9:00PM
New 3D work for Cassidian
in CGI
We worked with 2e Creative, an ad agency out of St. Louis, to develop this image for Cassidian. Several other jobs are in the works that we will share soon. Beautiful, yes?!!
2013 City Block Project
I created the City Block Project along with Paparazzi, an affiliate group of The Light Factory, as a friendly competition among photographers in the Charlotte area and the results in past years has been phenomenal. I look forward to seeing what people can come up with in the Plaza Midwood blocks this year. Come out and have some fun April 27th. Learn more at www.cityblockproject.com.
Clear the Sidewalks!!
We've just completed this new campaign for the City of Charlotte. We are excited to see this project get launched, but unfortunately, it has a rather sad backstory. Recently a boy was struck and killed by a car when he swerved into the street to avoid garbage bins that were left in the middle of the sidewalk. This campaign was created as a public service announcement to keep the sidewalks clear. Hopefully we're saving lives with our work because we certainly don't want to ever hear of that happening again. Look for these images to be popping up around Charlotte the next few months.
As usual, this project was enhanced by CGI. That's because we wanted our background to show a nice summer day, but we were creating this project in January. So, CGI to the rescue! Here is the untextured CGI scene that Peter (our fearless Imaging Director) created for this campaign.
NEW FINE ART PROJECT - Power of the Mind - Image #1
For most of my life I based my worldview on science alone, but over the past few years I have developed an appreciation of spirituality too (quantum physics helped me merge these two viewpoints). In an effort to share what I’ve been discovering with the world, I have created a fine art project called Power of the Mind. Each image in this project will focus on a scientific experiment that stretches a commonly held perception about the power of our beliefs. By looking at one of these images alone it might be challenging to see a spiritual connection, but hopefully over the course of showcasing many experiments I'll be able to provide insight into my understanding of the underpinnings of our reality.
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This first image is about a 2007 Harvard University experiment called Mind-set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect. The experiment consisted of telling hotel maids (in the non-control group) that the work they do everyday fulfills the Surgeon General’s requirement for a healthy lifestyle. They were told, for instance, that vacuuming for 15 minutes burns 50 calories, cleaning the bathrooms for 15 minutes burns 60 calories, etc. Each maid was put through a bevy of health tests and lifestyle surveys at the start of the observation, and then again four weeks later. As a result of their new mental constructs alone, the informed maids had statistically significant improvements in weight, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, body fat and body mass index.
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I believe that what we focus our minds on is made material in real world experiences, though it can be our nature to perceive such manifestations as coincidence. To me, this experiment helps to shed a bit of light on the true metaphysical nature of our minds. The maids were able to change the physical makeup of their bodies - not by any lifestyle changes, but by new mental constructs and the Power of the Mind.
Thanks to Crystal Reike, who recently won 1st place at Nationals and thus earned the coveted International Federation of Body Building pro card, for modeling for this project.
New CGI Ad for Huber Engineered Woods is Making Waves
in CGI
Huber Engineered Woods is putting the toughness of their Advantech flooring product on display by showing it being used in another extreme circumstance - the deck of an aircraft carrier.
I'm a daddy!
I hadn't shared the news yet on this blog (let's be honest, I've been a bit busy), but I'm now a daddy! Mirabelle Lark Busher was born on June 17th and is a happy, healthy baby girl! Now at 6 months old and we're having a blast. I'm truly experiencing a new kind of love.
New Wallscape in Uptown Charlotte
Center City Partners hired us to create this image of uptown Charlotte for a new wallscape on the side of a building at 3rd & Tryon Streets.
New Ad to 'Drive' Sales of Worx SD
This project is for Positec USA, maker of both Rockwell and Worx tools. This image show off their new SD Semi-Automatic Driver, which has a cocking mechanism that automatically changes the bit. Very cool!
WWJD at the Democratic National Convention?
in Images
Ever since I grew my hair long I've had people (both friends and random strangers) claim I look like Jesus. Combined with the fact I was reading many spiritual texts, this got me to thinking it would be a fun challenge to play the role of Jesus in a fine art project. Suddenly the phrase "What Would Jesus Do" seemed a lot harder to answer. Peter and I are currently hard at work aswering that question in another project due out later in 2013. In the meantime we stretched our imaginations with a practice project: Jesus Visits the Democratic National Convention. I spent the DNC week photographing all the events and then later we Photoshopped me into several of the scenes. I was inspired to showcase a playful (cartwheels in the streets) and down-to-earth side to Jesus - we hope you enjoy!
New CGI imagery for Huber Engineered Woods
in CGI
